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Here’s just a brief overview of our ELI research project. Our focus in on reviewing the training material currently used at conferences in the Pacific Island nations.

*We have a video that we presented in Australia but we’re still working on recording the audio for that but it’ll be up soon.

Methodology

We conducted online surveys with staff and students

Interviews with long serving staff

Observational trials of staff teaching our current material to students and afterwards giving their feedback on what they thought.

This then led us to review the training material we’re using and also material from neighbouring Cru locations such as the US, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and even Papua New Guinea.

We looked at material from the US, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and PNG.

Obstacles

Some of the challenges that we faced during our data collection process were

that we had a small pool of students that responded; compared to the actual number that were sent evaluation forms post-conference.

In addition, their responses may have been too kind and not elaborate enough to give us an accurate look at the data.

Another obstacle we faced was our team location and schedules. A new baby, settling down and getting married and new campus responsibilities too. These were the major ones we faced.

Nathan, Judith and I getting commissioned to the West by our director Koli Ravoka.

Trying to do some work while babysitting Micah.

Nathan and Bekah got married.

Key Findings

When we were able to meet we found out a lot of things from the data we collected. We found that given the choice, the top three topics of interest for both students and staff were:

How to study the Bible (52%)

The Spirit filled life (43.5%)

Making Disciples and Prayer (33.3%)

We also discovered that students and staff both agreed that the training was lengthy.

However, our biggest finding was that there was a significant contrast between student and staff views with regards to:

Comprehension

Practicality

Transferability

Interaction

Overall satisfaction of the training

This meant that our training greatly relied on the trainer and how they delivered the material.

So, there is now a change in focus of our project. It’s no longer the content but the layout and delivery of the material.

Recommendations

As we navigate our way through these obstacles and key findings we’ve established some possible solutions to meet these needs by firstly simplifying the training material and focusing more on the format of the training.

These solutions will explore incorporating active learning activities such as;

Culturally adapted case-base problem solving which is relevant and relatable to Pacific Islanders.

Collaborative learning where students are engaged in group activities.

Personal reflection and journaling times

Giving staff the opportunity to practice coaching techniques and how to better facilitate group discussions.

Cone of learning. Research has shown that kinaesthetic learning can help students retain up to 90% of information.

Our hope is then to come up with a framework for future material formatting one level training as a sample next year and trialing it in 2020.

Over the semester-break I was fortunate enough to once again travel to the beautiful country of Vanuatu and share the gospel with an awesome team. Primarily we spent much of our time training the local students who were already a part of the Student Life (Campus Crusade) movement (as they currently operate without any full-time staff) but we also got to do evangelism on Emalus campus, the University of the South Pacific’s Law faculty.

After a total of an estimated 25 hours of travel and transition I finally reached my destination – Cincinnati, Ohio. Home of the Cincinnati Bengals, Reds and Brian Faust (my good friend and discipler). The Faust family has offered for me to stay with them until the Christmas Conference begins on the 28th of December and they’ve been eagerly anticipating my arrival. We drove in a little after 3am and after a quick bite and a much needed shower I was out like a light.

Adonia and I got into America safe and sound yesterday at about noon. It was a smooth flight and transition throughout the whole trip, we touched down in Columbus Ohio at about 12.30am. The stinters: Brian, Kori and Jenny were there to receive and welcome us at the airport. From there Adonia went with the girls and Brian and I drove down to Cincinnati which is about a two and a half hour drive south of Columbus.

It’s been great thus far and we just want to thank you all for your support and prayers. Looking forward to experiencing America and the upcoming IndyCC.

I can now reveal to you (finally) what I’ve been praying for for the last couple of weeks. Time is short and I’ve only just begun raising support but God has never failed me. I’ll be sure to keep you all posted on the latest as we gearing up to attend…